Way Too Soon for Death to Do Us Part
by luvtheheaven
Summary: Shules' wedding night doesn't go as planned; an escaped convict Shawn helped put behind bars wants to ruin their happiness. Gus, now engaged to Rachael in this fic, tries to be the BEST best man. Meanwhile, Carlton and Marlowe's son is now two-years-old, and Marlowe is due to give birth to their second child any day now. Henry appears in this fic as well. No slash. Psych team fic.
1. The Bubble of Happiness

_**Author's Note:**__ This is my first attempt writing for this particular fandom – this marks the 10__th__ fandom I've delved into. The show is ending and I don't know what the final five episodes will have in store, but I do know that I miss Psych already. :P_

_I'm not a very passionate Shules shipper, or shipper at all on this show. I do like Shawn/Juliet as the romance and everyone else being friends, but it's just that my top OTPs are generally in other fandoms. On this show, I particularly love the friendships more than anything._

_Also note, since Gus never *officially* broke up with Rachael (weird continuity thing the show left hanging!), I like to think she and her son Maximus are still in Gus' life. They won't be a huge part of the fic, but I am mentioning them. I may be unnaturally attached to this romance because I've loved Parminder Nagra since her ER days. Lol. (I think they should've at least addressed whether or not she was breaking up with Gus after the basket he got at the end of the penultimate episode of season 7 – they still had the season finale! I get why she hasn't been in season 8 though – Parminder was cast in The Blacklist.)_

_One more thing: I think, for the sake of their fertility, we should just pretend Lassiter and Marlowe are a bit younger than they actually are, and more like later 30s rather than the truth where the actors were both born in 1969, so 2-ish years in the future when this fic takes place (2016-ish) they'll both be around age 47 lol._

_And of course, the begging: I need reviews to motivate me to keep writing. ;) Please take the time to write a simple sentence or two telling me what you liked, what you are looking forward to, what you hope I do in the future, or even what you wished I didn't do!_

_Thank you and sorry for the really long author's note when starting things off!_

* * *

Chapter 1: The Bubble of Happiness

"I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss the bri-" Woody caught himself mid-word and rephrased after noticing Juliet's glare.

He remembered she had asked him to avoid the sexist language. She had only allowed Woody to marry them under a few specific conditions – one of them being as long as he promised to say exactly what she'd written out for him.

"You may now kiss _each other_," he said this time, emphasizing the fixed wording.

Juliet closed her eyes and leaned in a little, ready for their kiss to officially seal their marriage, but Shawn had something else in mind. He quickly adjusted himself so that he was in position to kiss her forehead.

"Shawn!" she exclaimed in surprise, her eyes shooting open the moment his lips touched the skin above her eyes. She then laughed. She loved this man. Of course he wouldn't want to kiss her on the lips right then. That'd be too predictable.

The people in attendance at the wedding were unsure of if they should clap now, or wait for a real kiss. Gus too seemed torn, while Lassiter, who was standing directly beside him as another groomsman, was rolling his eyes in a way that directly paralleled Henry's over in the front row.

"I think we need to kiss on the mouth now," Shawn whispered, and Juliet nodded, and then proceeded to do as he'd suggested. At the point their lips collided, applause burst out and even a little cheering. Shawn noticed the loudest cheering coming from about one foot behind him.

"Gus," he said seriously, trying to calm his friend down. "Cheer using your _inside_ voice, please."

"But we're _outside_ right now, Shawn," he replied, gesturing around at the palm trees with cardboard pineapple cut-outs hanging from them. They had picked a lovely location in a Santa Barbara park for their wedding, and luckily the weather had cooperated.

"But _you're_ inside my personal bubble," Shawn countered, noting the limited distance separating him from his best friend. "In fact, this whole wedding is inside a bubble of sorts," he continued. "We're in a bubble of happiness right now, Gus!"

Shawn smiled triumphantly, knowing he'd won that little argument.

Gus smiled back, amused, and shook his head. He thought about it for a moment. He really did feel like he was in a bubble of happiness right now. Like all non-happy feelings were trapped outside and all happy feelings were stuck right near Shawn, and Juliet, and their friends and family. Nothing could get rid of the happiness – the bubble was keeping it safe, because today needed to be perfect for his friends, and it was. A decade after Shawn had met the beautiful detective, they had finally tied the knot. Gus glanced over toward the chairs where his fiancée and soon-to-be stepson were sitting. He wasn't sure when their wedding would be – they hadn't set a date yet or anything – but at that moment he felt like only _happiness _could possibly be in _their_ little family's future too.

* * *

Juliet danced with Frank for the traditional father-daughter dance, pleased that he had actually shown up to her wedding. They were never all that close, but she couldn't help but love him. He was her dad. She stepped in time to the music, her wedding gown flowing beautifully, the sequins catching the light from the sun.

Lloyd took a seat next to Henry, keeping his eyes on the two of them swaying.

"I thought _I'd_ get a chance to dance with her," he complained, feeling unfairly shafted.

"She's didn't even become your step-daughter until well after she was a grown woman, Lloyd," Henry replied sensibly.

"But she even didn't want him to walk her down the aisle! I thought that meant…" he trailed off, but it was clear what he thought it'd meant. Lloyd had hoped it'd mean her real father was not going to be a part of this dance, either, and maybe instead she'd choose her mother's current husband for the event. His disappointment was all over his face.

"Shawn told me she was just avoiding all of the sexist wedding traditions," Henry explained. Juliet had walked down the aisle alone, not needing any man to "give her away". She was a strong cop, and Henry knew more often than not it was his son playing the role of "damsel in distress" in their relationship. He smiled, knowing this dance was not something she'd considered sexist because it would have a gender-swapped parallel. Shawn would be dancing with Madeline. Any minute now…

He looked over at his ex-wife with affection as she stood up and prepared to take her son's hand.

On the other side of the reception area, Lassiter looked down at his son lovingly. Braxton was touching his mother's expanded abdomen, feeling the baby's movements.

"Kick!" he exclaimed excitedly. Marlowe looked up at her husband and caused the boy, who was wearing a very cute set of khaki pants, a button-up-shirt, and a clip-on tie, to turn around. "Daddy!" he cried out. "Kick!" he repeated, using the limited vocabulary currently in his repertoire.

Lassiter smiled. "Yes, the baby is kicking," he replied, leaning over to feel for himself.

Vaguely, he heard an announcement from somewhere behind him, informing the guests that anyone who was 'in love' was welcome to join Shawn and Juliet on the dance floor.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked his extremely pregnant wife. Carlton was in an uncharacteristically good mood today, truly happy for O'Hara… and even Spencer. Maybe fatherhood had made him soft. He hoped not, but sometimes he couldn't deny that things… annoyed him less than they once did.

Marlowe smiled but then looked down at their son. "But who will watch Braxton?"

Carlton turned around, scanning the reception area with a trained detective's eye, looking for a person he'd trust to hold onto his boy for just a few minutes. His gaze landed on the older Spencer.

"Come here, buddy," Carlton said as he picked up his son. "Let's take you to Mr. Spencer. He's the father of the groom," he explained, wondering if his two-year-old could understand such concepts yet.

He plopped Braxton down in front of Henry. "Spencer, can you please watch him while I dance with my wife?" He didn't bother waiting for an answer. He walked away quickly, not wanting to miss the rest of the current slow song, prepared to grab his wife's hand and lead her on the dance floor. He knew he'd given Spencer no choice, and that his son was in safe hands.

Henry was caught off guard. "What?" he asked but all of a sudden he was left alone with a very young boy. He sighed, not really thrilled at the prospect of taking care of anyone's child right now, but at this point he knew he already had been given the responsibility whether he'd wanted it or not. Lloyd, still sitting to the left of Henry, watched his friend's face with amusement.

"What was your name again?" he asked the toddler, not really expecting an answer. He thought back for a moment to the day the kid had been born, which had been the one time he'd actually heard the name… it was something pretty unusual… it started with a B… he knew he'd think of it in a moment. He was interrupted from his thoughts by the child in question.

"Braxton," the little boy answered proudly.

Henry couldn't resist smiling a little.

"That's right. Hi, Braxton," he replied. "Do you want to sit next to me on this chair?" he asked, gesturing to an empty one directly to his right. When the boy nodded, Henry gently scooped him up and placed him in the seat.

"Do you know how to entertain a young child?" Lloyd asked, leaning in awkwardly close to the retired detective.

Henry turned around and shot the man an incredulous look. "You do know I raised the man who decided to never grow up, and instead be a child_ for a living_, right?"

"Oh…" Lloyd replied, realization dawning on him and he glanced again toward the dance floor. This time, his eyes landed on the immature groom. "Right." Lloyd supposed Henry had a point.

The song started to come to an end, and Carlton decided to twirl his wife, lifting his arm up to give her room to go under it. His dancing was surprisingly graceful. Her green party dress was surprisingly beautiful for having been purchased in a maternity department.

Shawn glanced over at them, and hoped he and Juliet would remain that happy. Lassie and his ex-con wife were really the only happily married couple he had in his small group of friends to look to as an example.

"Jules, did you want to have a baby?" he asked her, thinking about Marlowe's current pregnancy as he said it. The song ended and a new, more upbeat one started playing.

"What?" she asked, surprised. "I… You're asking me this _now_?" They had discussed the fact that they both did want at least one child a long time ago, but it had been a vague idea meant for the far distant future, and now, it seemed Shawn was ready to actually started working on making it a reality.

"No, actually, Jules, I'm asking you this yesterday. Wait no, I think it's four months from now. Hang on.…" She smiled, amused by his joking. "This time traveling thing makes it hard for me to remember when it is I'm doing the things I'm doing," he finished.

Marlowe had returned to her seat but now Lassiter was dancing with his little boy to the fun song. Gus had dragged Maximus onto the dance floor as well. The song was a fun one, not meant exclusively for couples anymore. Juliet and Shawn had stopped dancing though, and were now just on the dance floor talking.

"Do _you _want us to have a baby? I mean… like right away?" she asked sincerely, looking into his eyes for an answer.

"Darling," he began to reply, "I think we have to wait at least nine or so months before the baby will actually get here."

She rolled her eyes, the corners of her lips curling upward. "Does that mean you do want to work on _conceiving_ one right away?"

Shawn let himself be serious for a moment and smiled a little sheepishly. "Only if you do," he replied.

She smiled. "I think… that might be nice," she said in turn.

She hated the thought of what a pregnancy would mean for her as a cop… having to work desk duty at some point and whatnot… but she'd always dreamed of having a kid. And she knew Shawn would be a good father, despite his immaturity. She was sure of it. And Lassiter having children had not only instilled a little baby-fever in Shawn – Juliet was feeling it now, too.

They looked at each other meaningfully, both thinking the same thing. She would go off her birth control starting immediately. Then the newlyweds both realized at the same time that they were standing still in the middle of a dance floor at their own wedding while a fun, upbeat song was playing, and they both burst into a small laugh simultaneously.

"Shall we show these people how it's done?" Shawn asked.

Juliet nodded and the couple proceeded to dance in a silly manner. Shawn was way more over-the-top than his wife, but both managed to turn a few heads and cause a few guests here and there to smile.

* * *

The wedding ended, as all celebratory parties inevitably do. Lassiter had left a bit on the early side in order to get his son in bed at a reasonable hour. Rachael had decided to leave only an hour or so later as most of the guests were departing, because Maximus had been getting a bit bored due to the lack of other children his age in attendance.

Gus stuck around, determined to be a perfect Best Man, which he was sure included being there for every second of the event. He had spent days stressing over what to include in his speech, and had even begged Shawn to write it for him so that he said exactly what Shawn had wanted to hear, but in the end he was very satisfied with the speech he'd given near the start of the reception. He'd done research on how much time it should take to deliver, and had accordingly timed his own speech to last precisely two-minutes and forty-five seconds. He had also successfully caused the crowd to laugh three times and for Juliet to tear up art a sweet moment. His speech had been as close to perfect as Burton Guster could manage.

Now, he looked at the final few guests leaving, having taken it upon himself to make sure no one left without their pineapple candy party favor. He wished he had Shawn's 'psychic'-level powers of observation at times like this as he strained his eyes to try and notice if anyone was missing said parting gift. He also saw Henry, accompanied by his ex-wife, walk over to Shawn.

"Congratulations, son," Henry said with a smile, reaching out his hand for a manly shake. "I never really thought this day would come," he said with a touch of levity, "but I'm really glad it did."

Shawn felt a little overwhelmed with emotion as he returned the formal handshake. His dad actually seemed… dare he think it?... proud of him.

"Thanks, Dad," he replied. He turned to his mother, who also seemed to have something to say. She just looked at Juliet.

"Thank you for making my son so happy," she said sincerely. Juliet resisted the urge to cry from all the sweet sentiments going around.

"He makes me happy too," she replied simply.

Before long everyone, even Shawn, Juliet, and Gus, had driven away, heading back toward their homes.

If any of the guests had seen the hired employees starting to take down the pineapple decorations, they may have started to feel the sadness one feels as a particularly happy chapter ends and a new, not-quite-as-bright chapter begins.


	2. Bursting the Bubble of Happiness

_**Note:**__ Yoplait and Go-Gurt are registered trademarks. I mean nothing by mentioning them in the chapter below, and I don't endorse the brand. I was merely choosing to reference a relatively common product. Go-Gurt is the name for the product in the USA & Australia. Go-Gurt is sold as Yoplait Tubes in Canada and as Frubes in the United Kingdom._

* * *

Chapter 2: Bursting the Bubble of Happiness

Carlton watched from the doorway as Marlowe tucked their son into bed and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight, Mommy," he said softly.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," she replied.

"Goodnight, Daddy," he called out slightly louder toward his father.

Lassiter gave him a curt nod, which Braxton knew was one of his daddy's ways of showing affection. He smiled ever so slightly before closing his eyes and letting himself drift off into dreamland.

* * *

Juliet, still in her wedding gown, refused Shawn's offer to carry her over the threshold and instead walked into her house happily with Shawn directly behind her, and then they both plopped down on the couch.

"I guess the day's over," Shawn said, loosening his bowtie and kicking off his shoes so hard that they flew to the other side of the room. Juliet leaned over to remove her own white shoes less violently - she used her hands.

"I guess it is," she said. "It was really lovely. Everything worked out great," she added with a smile. She was thinking of the ceremony and how Woody had done a nice job, how the catered food was delicious… how the weather had been perfect… so many things had fallen into place just right. Even all four of their parents had shown up – five, if she counted Lloyd – and despite both hers and Shawn's being divorced, everything remained civil and cordial.

Shawn returned her smile then leaned in to give her a quick kiss. "We're married now," he said softly, a hint of excitement in his tone.

"Yeah," she replied.

* * *

Gus was home alone tonight. Rachael had thought they shouldn't move in together until after they were married, in order to be good role models for Maximus. He could've still spent some time with them that evening… it was still early enough that he could potentially enjoy an entire movie and some buttery popcorn with his lover, on her couch. But something in the back of his mind told him he should stay available for best man duties. The wedding day would not officially be over until the stroke of midnight. He had his cell phone on and the volume set to high. He was ready to help Shawn out with anything at all on a moment's notice.

* * *

Henry emerged from his kitchen carrying two mugs of decaf coffee; one for himself, and one for the love of his life. Madeline would always be the love of his life, regardless of the fact that they'd been divorced for over twenty years and had both dated other people.

She smiled up at him and took her cup. He sat in the arm chair and faced his ex-wife on the couch, and they began to chat. Madeline would only be in town through tomorrow morning, having only come in for the wedding. She had taken up Henry on his offers to drive her to and from the airport, but she'd decided she'd rather sleep in a hotel for this trip. Still, there were a few hours to kill before she needed to get some shut-eye. So she listened as Henry bragged about how their son had solved a recent murder, and she too felt proud as she learned of some of the very small, but significant details that Shawn had not overlooked.

* * *

Lassiter was in his pajamas, which consisted of a button-up shirt with some illustrations of various hand guns on them and matching long pants. He was ready to turn off his lamp on his bedside table and stop reading the previous month's issue of Military Magazine when his cell phone buzzed. He turned to look toward the lit up screen and saw the caller ID. It was the precinct. He quickly grabbed the phone then tiptoed hastily out of the room, not wanting to wake Marlowe. Once he was in the hallway and had shut the door behind him, he answered the phone.

"Head Detective Carlton Lassiter," he greeted, a few decibels quieter than usual, but still in his usual commanding tone. His eyes went wide. "When did this happen?" he asked sharply. "I'll be down there in ten minutes," he replied, already working on unbuttoning his pajama shirt.

* * *

Juliet and Shawn had the night to themselves. Gus and everyone else who had a copy of their house key knew not to stop by for any reason. Even their cell phones had been powered off. They weren't going to have the same interruptions they had suffered the night they'd gotten engaged. _That_ fiasco had taught them to plan ahead.

Still on the couch, they kissed for a second time, more passionately than before.

"Let me change out of my wedding dress," Juliet said. Shawn nodded and let her disappear up their house's staircase and into the bedroom. He decided he'd go to the kitchen to get a quick snack while she was doing that. He opened the fridge and perused it, settling on a tube of Go-Gurt. He'd be careful not to get any of the pink yogurt on his fancy tuxedo.

He had just finished ripping the top off when he heard a small crash upstairs.

"Jules?" he called out, wondering what had caused the noise. He figured she had accidentally dropped a hanger on the floor when hanging up her dress or something similar. It was likely nothing to worry about. He meandered back over toward the couch, slurping the delicious Strawberry Splash-flavored yogurt out of the tube as he walked. He sat down, thinking about how he wished Yoplait would introduce a pineapple flavor into the mix of fruity options.

After he finished his snack and had gotten up to throw the plastic packaging away, he started to get impatient for Juliet to return. How long did it really take to get out of a $300 dress? He started to head upstairs himself, realizing that Jules probably wanted him to change out of his rented tux anyway. She'd probably be in the mood to… consummate their marriage now, he thought with a childish grin. And their bed was in the bedroom, of course, which was always the best place for "doing it".

What he saw when he entered the bedroom, however, was nothing like he expected.

* * *

Gus jumped at the sound of his cell phone ringing. Shawn_ was_ calling. Ha! He knew he'd still be needed on best man duty tonight.

"Hey, Shawn. What's-" his greeting was cut short by Shawn interrupting.

"She's gone!" he cried out. "I don't know what happened, but Gus, she's gone!" He sounded very upset.

"Woah, Shawn. Calm down. We're talking about Juliet, or…?"

"No, Gus. Your mom. YES JULIET!" he screeched. "Why aren't you freaking out? I'm not saying she left for our honeymoon early, dude. There's all this glass, and a little blood, and her… her dress isn't even in the closet, so she must still be wearing the thing…"

Gus's eyes went wide. "What? Blood? Glass?"

Gus listened as his best friend took a deep breath.

"Jules came up here… I mean up to _our bedroom_ to change out of her wedding dress. I was in the kitchen grabbing a snack, 'cause you know, all that dancing… I burned off a lot of calories and my body needed to replenish some. I heard a… 'crash' is I guess what you'd call it, but man, I thought it was nothing. If I had just…"

"Shawn." Gus tried to get his friend back to telling the story.

"Right. So by the time I finally did come up here, she… I think she's been kidnapped!"

"What do you _see_?" Gus probed.

"The window's been broken from the outside, and there's a ladder propped up to it. I think someone probably did all this while we were out at the wedding, and then waited inside the bedroom for Juliet to come in here. They probably took her out the window. But idk how they could've unless they…" Shawn hesitated.

"Unless they what?"

"Unless they, like… threw her down there then climbed down themselves! God, Gus! She's probably pretty badly injured! I can't see anything down on the ground, it's dark outside."

"Okay, okay. Focus back on what's inside. You said something about blood?"

"Well, it's just a little bit… maybe the person who broke the window hurt himself trying to get inside?" he suggested hopefully.

"There's also just… normal bedroom stuff. I don't think anything's out of place. The closet's open but I think I left it that way when I left the house this morning…"

Gus nodded, even though no one could see him.

"Shawn," he said, "have you called the cops about this yet?"

"What? No, dude. I didn't even think. I just called you on instinct. That's a good idea-"

"Wait. Shawn. You call your dad. He can help too. I'll call the police and inform them of everything. Don't you worry. We'll find her," he said in a reassuring tone.

Gus hung up with Shawn and then took the briefest of moments to let what he'd just found out from Shawn sink in. Yikes! Juliet had been abducted?

That bubble of happiness that Gus had thought was impenetrable had clearly been burst. And once a bubble pops, it's gone. It's not a type of object that can break – it's either whole and perfect, or it's completely disappeared. Their wedding day wasn't even over yet! How could this be happening?

Quickly, Gus hit the speed dial he had programmed into his phone for Lassiter. (They'd exchanged phone numbers back in their tap dancing days.)

* * *

Madeline was chuckling in reply to a silly story Henry had just told her when the phone rang.

"Hang on, let me get this," Henry told her as he stood up and walked toward the phone he had in his kitchen. He picked it up off of the receiver. "Hello?"

"Dad?" Shawn sounded distraught. Henry looked toward Madeline. He didn't want her to worry.

"What is it?" he asked quietly and calmly. He knew it must be something serious.

"Can you please come over here right now?" Shawn begged. "Something's happened to Juliet."

Henry wanted to ask questions like 'Was she hurt?' but he didn't want to raise any alarms for his ex-wife. So all he responded was, "Sure. I'll be right there." He hung up the phone and then walked back over toward Madeline.

"I'm really sorry, but I have somewhere to be, actually," he told her vaguely. "Can I drop you off at the hotel now?"

"Sure," she replied. "But where do you have to be at this hour? I thought you were retired?"

"Oh, it's just some friend," he fibbed. "Got himself in a bind…"


End file.
